Changes in voting qualifications and participation, the election of Andrew Jackson, and the formation of the Democratic Party—due largely to the organizational skills of Martin Van Buren—all contributed to making the election of 1828 and Jackson's presidency a watershed in the evolution of the American political system. The campaign of 1828 was a crucial event in a period that saw the development of a two-party system akin to our modern system, presidential electioneering bearing a closer resemblance to modern political campaigning, and the strengthening of the power of the executive branch.

In this lesson, students analyze changes in voter participation and regional power, and review archival campaign documents reflecting the dawn of politics as we know it during the critical years from 1824 to 1832.

Guiding Questions

What changes in voting participation are evident in the election of 1828?

Do the statistics indicate that Andrew Jackson's popularity was an important factor in voting participation in 1828?

Learning Objectives

Give examples to indicate how voting participation changed in the first half of the 19th century.

Make connections between changes in voting participation and the results of the election of 1828.

Before embarking on their analysis, some classes would benefit from reading the following relatively brief yet comprehensive essays, which provide background on the election of 1824 and the election of 1828 and its aftermath. All essays are available on Digital History, a project of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, a link from the EDSITEment-reviewed website History Matters.

(NOTE: Table A2 in the appendix to Alexander Keyssar's book The Right to Vote (Basic Books, 2000) was an invaluable source of information for state voting requirements cited in this lesson.)

Assessment

In a whole-class setting, discuss the following:

What can we learn by making connections between voter participation and the results of the 1828 election?

Do the data tend to prove or disprove the idea that Andrew Jackson appealed to the common man?

Here is a sample of the kinds of conclusions students might reach:

In general, voting participation tended to be much higher in states that voted solidly for Andrew Jackson than those states that went solidly for John Quincy Adams. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, which Adams won handily, voting participation was less than 30 percent, with only a small increase in participation over 1824. In more closely contested states won by Adams, such as New Jersey and Maryland, voting participation was high and had greatly increased over 1824. In general, states with very large percentage increases in voting participation tended to be closely contested or to vote solidly for Jackson. In the election of 1832, with Jackson's re-election virtually assured, voting participation tended to drop. In 1836, voting participation tended to increase again. The data indicate that Jackson's popularity was an important factor in the increase in voter participation and that first-time voters—represented by the percentage increase in voter participation—tended to vote for Jackson. There is also an indication that the increase in voter participation due to the expansion of the base and, at least in part, to Jackson's popularity, led to an extended period of higher voter participation after Jackson's presidency ended.